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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
The story of the founding of Moody Bible Institute serves several purposes. Such a resume fills a gap in our knowledge of an institution that has made important contributions to the life of the city of Chicago and to the shaping of the twentieth century American Protestantism. Any account of the early days of the Institute must also become a case study of the thought and personality of Dwight L. Moody, one of America's most famous revivalists. The record of Moody's struggle to found the school provides us with some underStanding of his social and economic views, offers glimpses of his conception of his role as a leader of evangelical Protestantism, and illuminates several important facets of his personality. All of these subjects merit the attention of the historian.
1 Two recent studies of Moody the revivalist which place him within the larger historical context are in Weisberger, Bernard A., They Gathered At the River: The Story of the Great Revivalists and Their Impact Upon Religion in America (Boston, 1958)Google Scholar, Chap. VII, and McLoughlin, William G., Modern Revivalism: Charles Grandison Finney to Billy Graham (New York, 1959)Google Scholar, Chaps. 4, 5.
2 Weisberger, op. cit., pp. 181–200, provides a brief survey of Moody's life in the Midwest. A more detailed discussion is in my “Dwight L. Moody, Evangelist of the Gilded Age: 1837–1899” (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Northwestern University, 1961), Chaps. II, III.
3 Circulars entitled “Bible Work,” March 1, 1874, and “Report and Partial Summary, Bible Work, 1885–1886,” both in the Cyrus H. McCormick Family Papers, Wisconsin State Historical Society (hereafter cited as McCormick Papers).
4 Dedmon, Emmet, Great Enterprises: 100 Years of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago (New York, 1957), pp. 41–42, 366;Google ScholarDeremer, Bernard R., Moody Bible Institute: A Pictorial History (Chicago, 1960), pp. 18–20.Google Scholar
5 Chicago Inter-Ocean, January 23, 1886, p. 7; Record of Christian Work, IV (October, 1885), 1; V (January, 1886),1.
6 Ibid., V (February, 1886), 5–6, provides a verbatim account of Moody's speech. See also the Chicago Tribune, January 23, 1886, p. 3; Chicago Inter-Ocean, January 23, 1886, p. 7.
7 Bessie Pierce offers a good survey of labor's activities in Chicago during these years in A History of Chicago (3 vols.; New York, 1937–1957)Google Scholar, III, Chaps. VII, VIII. See also David, Henry, The History of the Haymarket Affair: A Study in the American Social-Revolutionary and Labor Movements (2nd. ed.; New York, 1958).Google Scholar
8 Record of Christian Work, V (April, 1886), 3. See also form letter signed by Moody, March 15, 1889, Moody Papers, Moody Bible Institute.
9 T. W. Harvey to “friend,” November 16, 1888, McCormick Papers.
10 For analysis of Moody's social and economic points of view, see Findlay, op. cit., pp. 260–278, and McLoughlin, op. cit., pp. 252–257, 306.
11 See May, Henry, Protestant Churches and Industrial America, (New York, 1949)Google Scholar, especially Part III, Chap. 11. Pierce, op. cit., pp. 280, 437–439, has documented the conservative reaction of Chicago's Protestant churches to the HaymarKet riot.
12 A brief summary of this driving force behind evangelical Protestantism is in Handy's, Robert T. “The Protestant Quest for a Christian America,” Church History, XII (March, 1953), pp. 8–20.Google Scholar
13 One of Moody's earliest statements which pointed out the need for evangelism among these urban elements is in the New York Evangelist, XLVI (February 18, 1875), 6. For evidence of his continuing interest in this question, see The Independent, XXVII (November 25, 1875), 15; Brooklyn Eagle, November 11, 1875), p. 2; Philadelphia Inquirer, January 10, 1876, p. 2; New York Times, November 10, 1896 p. 16.
14 Record of Christian Work, V (February, 1886), 6.
15 Ibid., p. 5.
16 A precise declaration of Moody's original intentions in founding the Northfield schools is in a letter written by his close friend, T. W. Harvey, in 1888. Moody's practical concerns are quite evident. Harvey claimed that Moody first discovered a shortage of welltrained lay workers when he was recruiting assistants for use in his revivals. He wanted workers who would “devote their time exclusively to spiritual interests, and assisting the Evangelist.” As he sought to find a solution to this problem, “the answer seemed to come in his Northfield Schools.” Thus Harvey concluded, “The central, original and underlying purpose is always kept in sight of in these schools, offering the favorable general education for those whom God shall call, as helpers in the special field of evangelistic work.” T. W. Harvey to “friend,” November 16, 1888, McCormick Papers.
17 The difficulty of adhering to Moody's original purposes in the face of new pressures which emerged as Mt. Hermon and the girls' school took on the coloring of secondary schools is revealed clearly in Henry E. Sawyer to Henry B. Rankin, May 5, 1889, Henry B. Rankin Papers, Mt. Herman School library.
18 These statements are not meant to imply that Moody was unhappy with the way in which the Northfield schools developed. There is no evidence to suggest such dissatisfaction. Since the schools possessed a strong religious orientation and made biblical studies an important part of the curriculum, the evangelist never hesitated to give them his wholehearted support. Perhaps it is best to say that he was determined to create a school designed to educate people as Christian evangelists. When in one instance he did not achieve this goal directly, he simply tried again in a new environment.
19 Moody sometimes connected urban evangelism with the Northfield schools. For example, see the New York Tribune, August 4, 1892, p. 5, and undated, unsigned letter (probably dictated by Moody), Henry B. Eankin Papers, Mt. Hermon School Library. In contrast, see the statement by the evangelist comparing Mt. Hermon and the Bible Institute in Record of Christian Work V (March, 1886), 1–2. He emphasized urban evangelism when speaking about the work in Chicago, but omitted the urban orientation from his words about Mt. Hermon. For additional comments by Moody and his friends about the Bible Institute's concern for urban evangelism, see Chicago Inter-Ocean, January 23, 1886, p. 7; D. L. Moody to McCormick Harvesting Machine Co., June 17, 1887, Moody Papers, E. M. Powell, Northfield, Mass.; T. W. Harvey to “friend,” November 16, 1888, McCormick Papers; Record of Christian Work, VIII (March, 1889), 2.
20 Mt. Hermon Catalogue, 1886 (Boston, 1886), pp. 7–8; “Northfield Young Ladies Seminary, 1879,” circular bound in volume entitled Northfield Seminary Calendars, 1879–1899, Northfield Seminary library.
21 A thorough discussion of this phenomenon is in Wyllie, Irvin G., The Image of the Self-Made Man in America: The Myth of Rags to Riches (New Brunswick, N. J., 1954).Google Scholar
22 Chicago Tribune, September 27, 1889, p. 1.
23 Ibid., January 2, 1887, p. 7; Record of Christian Work, VI (April, 1887), 1. In spite of his statement that he would do nothing in Chicago until the businessmen of the city raised the money he demanded, Moody actively participated in the fund-raising program. He and his friends sought contributions from such prominent Chicagoans as Levi Z. Leiter, Potter Palmer, the Armour brothers, and Marshall Field. Nearly all were asked for $50,000 apiece. D. L. Moody to N. F. McCormiek, February 10, 19, 1886; Emma Dryer to N. F. McCormick, March 19, October 20, 1886; T. W. Harvey to C. H. McCormick, Jr., May 5, 1887, all in the McCormick Papers.
24 MS copy of charter, Moody Papers, Moody Bible Institute; Minutes, Board of Trustees' Meetings, Chicago Evangelization Society, handwritten extracts in Moody Papers, Moody Bible Institute, February 17, 1887 (hereafter cited as Trustees' Minutes, C.E.S.).
25 Activities consisted primarily of frequent month-long conferences or “Bible Institutes” held in the Chicago Avenue Church or in Farwell Hall, a downtown meeting place owned by the Chicago Y.M.C.A. In the summer the Society also organized daily tent meetings in different parts of the city. Chicago Tribune, September 27, 1889, p. 1; January 17, 1890, p. 5; Record of Christian Work, VI (June, 1887), 1, 2; VII (January, 3888), 1; VIII (January, 1889), 2; D. L. Moody to D. W. Whittle, May 24, 1889, W. B. Moody Papers, Northfield, Mass.
26 A committee was appointed to work out the details of the merger and the trustees voted Miss Dryer an annual salary of $1000 under the new arrangement. Trustees' Minutes, C.E.S., February 17, March 5, 1887.
27 Miss Dryer became openly critical of Moody scarcely a month after the Society was organized. Writing to Mrs. McCormick, she said: “He astonishes me, by the evidence he exhibits, that he forgets what he says and does …. Some of the things he did and said when he first came here he seems to know nothing about and his reasons for certain doings are amusing.” Emma Dryer to N. F. McCormick, March 22, 1887, McCormick Papers.
28 Hints of such a concern are to be found in Trustees' Minutes, C. E. S., March 5, 1887.
29 Emma Dryer to N. F. McCormick, February 1, 17, 27, March 22, October 19, 26, 1887; Emma Dryer to C. H. McCormick, Jr., June 15, 1887, McCormick Papers.
31 D. L. Moody to N. F. McCormick, July 18, 1887, Ibid.
32 N. F. McCormick to D. L. Moody, undated letter, July 21, 1885 [1887]; Emma C. Moody to N. F. MeCormiek, July 26, 1887; telegram, D. L. Moody to N. F. McCormick, July 27, 1887, all in Ibid.
33 N. F. MeCormick to Mary Blatchford, August 29, 1887, Ibid. Mrs. MeCormick had pledged $50,000 to the organization and offered a piece of property on which the school was to be built. Eventually half of her gift, which was to be used to support the women's work, was returned to her. Minutes of the Board of Managers, C. E. S., extracts in Moody Papers, Moody Bible Institute, March 26, 1887; Trustees' Minutes, C. E. S., April 20, May 11, 1887; N. S. Bouton to N. F. MeCormick, May 14, 1887, MeCormick Papers.
34 Emma Dryer to D. L. Moody, July 25, 1887, Ibid.
35 Emma Dryer to N. F. McCormick, October 19, 26, November 14, 1887, Ibid.
36 N. S. Bouton to N. F. McCormick, August 16, 1888, Ibid.
37 Trustees' Minutes, C. E. S., May 16, 1889. For events leading up to this action, see Ibid., October 1, November 26, December 11, 1888; “Report of Meeting held October 1, 1888,” folder in MeCormick Papers; Emma Dryer to N. F. MeCormick, November 15, 1888; John V. Farwell to N. F. MeCormick, December 18, 1891, all in Ibid.
38 Following the resolution of the crisis in 1887, some of Moody's supporters in Chicago still had some questions about his leadership abilities. One of these friends visited Northfield late in the summer of 1887 to study Moody's “success as an organizer—remembering the statements I had heard that he was not successful in that capacity.” The result of this visit was a complete vote of confidence for the evangelist as one who was “able to plan wisely to secure means in abundance, and to choose and inspire workers who carry out his undertakings in the same generous Christian Spirit in which they are conceived.” Mary E. Blatchford to N. F. McCormick, August 7, September 13, 1887, Ibid.
39 Annual Catalogue of the Bible Institute for Some and Foreign Missions of the Chicago Evangelization Society (n.p., 1895), 3; Sixth Annual Statement …of the Bible Institute; Course of Study of the Bible Institute of the Chicago Evangelization Society (1891–1892). All of these pamphlets are available in the Moodyana Boom, Moody Bible Institute.
